The subject matter herein relates generally to electrical connectors having contact modules.
Known electrical systems that utilize right angle electrical connectors typically include a plurality of contact modules or wafers that are held together in a common housing. The contact modules have conductors that extend between a mating interface and a mounting interface that are oriented perpendicular to one another. The mounting interface has a plurality of pins that are configured to be mounted to the circuit board. Such electrical connectors are not without disadvantages. For instance, due to manufacturing tolerances, contact preload at the mating interface or other factors, the contact modules may be improperly positioned or oriented for mounting to the circuit board. For example, the contact modules may be skewed or angled with respect to one another and/or the housing holding the contact modules, causing the pins to be misaligned with the corresponding vias in the circuit board. Mounting the electrical connectors to the circuit board in such case could damage the pins.
To address such misalignment problems, some known systems use stiffeners or clips to couple the contact modules together. The stiffeners are typically metal plates that extend along the outside of the contact modules and engage portions of the contact modules to hold the contact modules at predetermined positions with respect to one another. The stiffeners add to the overall size of the electrical connectors. The stiffeners also affect the electrical performance of the electrical connectors by acting as an antenna.
A need remains for an improved device for organizing and holding contact modules of electrical connectors.